Chapter 88: The Floating Sanctuary (3)
The next morning.
Perin woke up earlier than usual.
She would normally sleep in and get up late, but today she had to get up early.
She was worried about Rendel, who had talked to her last night.
Perin got up from her bed and started to prepare her bag.
She had a lot of things she wanted to show to Yuto, her first friend.
She put everything from the mysterious grass she had picked in the forest to the shining stone she treasured in her bag.
Then she put on her bag and left the house, checking if there were any other fairies around.
“There’s no one around, right?”
Perin looked around and confirmed that there was no one else, then ran towards the spring.
She was afraid that Rendel might follow her and create an awkward atmosphere between the three of them.
Besides, Yuto might abandon Perin and become friendly with Rendel.
Perin had always been rejected by the spirits when she tried to make a contract with them, so it was not an impossible thing.
Rendel was different from Perin. He was a fairy who had made contracts with countless spirits.
“Please wait a little, Yuto.”
As she recalled the memories of having fun with Yuto, a smile formed on Perin’s lips.
What should she do today with her new spirit friend?
Perin quickened her pace as she thought about it.
She hoped that nothing would go wrong and she would meet Yuto without any trouble.
Until an unexpected gust of wind blew over her head.
“Huh?”
A breeze swept over Perin’s head as she crossed the forest.
At the same time, a huge shadow of a bird appeared around her.
Perin looked up at the darkened surroundings and lifted her head.
She saw a familiar figure above her where the wind was blowing.
Her eyes widened as she recognized the fairy flying over her head.
“Perin. Where are you going?”
It was Rendel who was flying on a giant eagle-shaped spirit.
He asked Perin as he flew towards her.
Perin had been nervous about being caught by Rendel.
So when she faced him in this situation, she couldn’t think clearly.
She blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.
“Ah, um… I just… I missed Yuto so much!”
Rendel smiled kindly at Perin’s words.
He didn’t scold Perin for her ridiculous excuse.
Instead, he lowered the altitude of his flying spirit and followed her closely.
Rendel narrowed the distance between him and Perin and spoke to her in a friendly voice.
“I see. I thought you were ignoring our promise.”
“N-no, that’s not it!”
“I would have been very hurt if you did. Let’s go quickly.”
Perin breathed a sigh of relief in her mind as Rendel didn’t show any displeasure.
She was worried that he might reprimand her, but luckily he was only kind to her.
He even seemed more friendly than usual.
Perin’s mind became more complicated by his behavior.
Rendel, who was riding a spirit, silently chased after Perin.
Soon, they arrived near the spring.
Perin saw Yuto from afar.
“Yuto!”
-“Soil!”
Perin ran towards Yuto with her arms wide open.
Yuto also hugged her as he came closer.
He welcomed Perin without running away or avoiding her.
Perin embraced him and rubbed her cheek on his soil pile.
Rendel watched them stick together and opened his mouth to Perin.
“Is this Yuto?”
“Yes. I gave him that name.”
Rendel looked at Perin’s answer and scanned Yuto up and down.
There was a hint of greed in his eyes as he looked at Yuto.
Perin, who had a better sense of empathy than others, easily noticed his emotion.
Rendel examined Yuto carefully and approached him.
He reached out his hand towards Yuto, who was floating in the air.
“I see. Then…”
“Soil?”
The moment Rendel reached out to Yuto.
Yuto threw soil at him and moved away.
Splash. Thud.
Rendel took off his glasses that were splashed with soil.
He wiped the soil off his glasses and looked at Yuto with a cold gaze.
“…”
“Rendel?”
Stomp. Stomp.
Rendel took a few more steps towards Yuto.
And Yuto backed away even more.
No matter how close Rendel tried to get, Yuto only kept his distance from him.
Rendel sighed at the sight of Yuto rejecting him and said.
“I don’t know if it’s because I have contracts with many spirits, but it seems like this kid doesn’t like my touch.”
“Y-yeah, it seems so.”
Some possible ways to continue the conversation are:
He didn’t seem to mind that Yuto rejected him, even though he got soil on his face.
He gave up on Yuto easily and told Perin to play with him.
Perin was relieved by his words, as she was afraid that Yuto would fall for Rendel and ignore her.
But contrary to her expectations, Yuto only showed affection to Perin and avoided Rendel.
Perin smiled brightly and thanked Rendel.
“Thank you so much!”
“I’ll see if you can make a contract with him while you play with him. Just be careful not to get hurt by the spirit.”
“You’re the best, Rendel!”
Perin jumped on Yuto’s back and hugged him.
Yuto moved left and right, showing his excitement.
Perin could fly far away with Yuto, but Rendel could also fly with his spirit.
Rendel would help her get back to the village safely, even if she traveled far.
Perin asked Yuto to fly away.
“Uh…”
As she was about to fly away with Yuto, she saw a fairy disappearing into the forest.
She was thirsty from the early morning, or maybe it was a small boy holding a water bottle.
The boy saw Perin and Rendel and covered his mouth, then turned around and started to move.
Perin made a puzzled expression as she watched the fairy disappear into the forest.
***
On his way back after the experiment with Perin.
After moving Yuto to a different location and sending Perin home, Rendel returned to his house with some of Yuto’s soil that he had collected from the ground.
He couldn’t examine Yuto as he pleased right now, since Yuto was rejecting his touch.
But he hoped that he would find a clue to make a contract with Yuto as time passed.
He had also moved Yuto to a place where the fairies’ eyes couldn’t reach, so he could research freely with Perin from now on.
Rendel smiled naturally as he thought of Yuto’s identity.
He tried to hide his smile as he touched the pouch that contained Yuto’s soil.
“It’s the first time I’ve met such a spirit.”
What Rendel had encountered was undoubtedly a floating earth spirit.
Floating earth spirits were a name for earth spirits that could fly among the earth spirits.
They were also one of the few secret weapons that the fairies had in their prosperous days.
It was recorded that the floating earth spirits had been completely wiped out by the ancient war, but thanks to Perin, he had met a real floating earth spirit.
The value of a flying territory was beyond comparison with anything else.
There was even a story that the fairy queen’s paradise in the legend was made of floating earth spirits.
To meet such a floating earth spirit with his own eyes.
It was like a fortune for Rendel today.
“…”
He was walking happily with his imagination, but he soon had to stop in his tracks as he felt a presence.
He heard an unfamiliar sound in his ears, which made him wake up from his happy dream and face reality.
The forest where Rendel was standing was a gloomy outskirts that no ordinary fairies would visit.
It was hard to see any good intention in hiding and watching in such a forest.
Rendel slowly turned his head and started to look for the owner of the presence that he felt through the wind.
“Stop hiding and come out.”
Crunch.
The sound of stepping on the bushes echoed along with Rendel’s voice.
Rendel’s gaze naturally headed towards the direction where the sound came from.
The person who appeared in front of Rendel after stepping on the bushes was someone he often ran into.
It was Egersuit, the warrior chief who led the village’s warriors.
Egersuit put a hand on Rendel’s shoulder with an unpleasant smile.
“Elder Rendel. It seems like you have found something amazing.”
Rendel realized the situation right away from Egersuit’s words.
The story about Yuto had leaked out.
Someone had discovered Yuto and told Egersuit, or Perin had spread the information somewhere else.
The suspects who could have leaked the information started to flash through Rendel’s mind.
But even while doing so, Rendel didn’t forget to answer Egersuit calmly.
“What are you talking about? I don’t know what you mean.”
“Don’t play dumb. A kid told me everything after seeing it.”
Egersuit told Rendel that someone had seen his appearance.
Could it be that one of the fairies who came to the spring had seen Yuto?
Rendel’s face hardened as he thought of a conclusion about the suspect.
“Who told you such nonsense?”
“What do you want to do with that information? It looks like you even set up a barrier at the spring.”
“A barrier? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Rendel had set up a barrier to prevent this kind of trouble.
Unfortunately, the barrier seemed to have no effect.
Egersuit shook his head slowly at Rendel’s consistent denial.
And then he added more force to his hand that was holding Rendel’s shoulder.
“Elder Rendel. Don’t you know my personality well? I’m doing this for everyone’s sake.”
“Since when is this for everyone’s sake?”
“I’m trying to work for the prosperity of the fairy race.”
“That’s some top-notch nonsense.”
There was no way to completely avoid this situation now.
Tsk.
Rendel bit his lips as he clicked his tongue.
Egersuit seemed to have expected that, and he tapped Rendel’s shoulder and whispered in his ear with a light voice.
“I’ll leave the magic part to you, Elder Rendel. It’s hard to find a way to make a contract with that thing without you anyway.”
“…”
“If you refuse, I’ll put a restraint on that filthy thing first, and then proceed with the contract.”
There were some magic that were banned among the fairies.
Egersuit was talking about using such magic to put a restriction on Perin.
Rendel frowned at Egersuit’s words.
Restraint was a means to suppress the fairies who went against the order.
It was not an easy magic that could be applied to any fairy either.
“You’re talking crazy. There could be a clash between the mark and the magic. Maybe…”
“It’s a proven magic over a long time, and you doubt it? And do you think the evil god would care about such lowly things? I’ll take care of it properly.”
Snort.
Egersuit scoffed at Rendel’s worry.
He looked like he had no intention of giving up at all.
He was eager to get Yuto by any means possible.
Rendel sighed deeply at Egersuit’s attitude.
He had been thinking of using some risky methods if a problem arose.
He would have to deal with some unpleasant guys, but the big picture of his plan wouldn’t change.
Rendel adjusted his crooked glasses and pulled Egersuit’s hand off his shoulder.
“How many of you know about this?”
“Not many yet. But if you want to use that spirit publicly, you’ll have to disclose some information, won’t you?”
“I guess so.”
“Either you make a contract and announce it publicly, or else—-.”
“Put a restraint on it?”
“It’s a lowly thing with a mark on it, so it won’t be treated as a kin. Don’t worry too much about the village’s backlash.”
The restraint was not something that could be done quietly.
He had to get the consent of the village to put a restraint on Perin.
Fortunately, most of the fairies in the village had a negative view of Perin.
There was a high chance that the control would be given to Rendel, the elder, if the restraint was carried out.
He had no choice but to answer Egersuit, who had an unpleasant but plausible plan.
“I need to research the contract with the floating earth spirit. Keep your mouth shut for a while.”
“I’m not a loose-lipped person.”
“What are you going to do with the kid who reported it?”
“Don’t worry too much about that kid. He wants to join the warrior corps, so he won’t spill anything easily.”
Rendel nodded at Egersuit’s words and started to walk again.
Egersuit also followed Rendel’s steps.
It was the moment when an implicit agreement was made between them.
Rendel glanced at Egersuit who was following him.
He didn’t like him from the start, but he liked him even less today.
“I’ll have to meet that kid first. Arrange a place for me.”
Evening, when the sun was setting.
The sound of two fairies walking on the grass echoed in the dense forest.
